This application relates generally to lamps, and more particularly to replaceable, combustible fuel-burning lamps.
Combustible fuel-burning lamps are commercially available for providing decorative illumination on tables such as found in restaurants, nightclubs, etc. Heretofore, such lamps have consisted of a body or cannister acting as a reservoir for the lamp's fuel and a burner and/or wick assembly mounted at the top of the body.
For example, in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,290, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein, a decorative lamp comprising a housing including a recess and a self-contained and replaceable mineral spirit-burning lamp assembly disposed within the housing is disclosed and claimed. The assembly comprises a cannister of mineral spirits into which a wick extends. The cannister is in the form of a hollow, metallic body, shaped like a conventional aerosol container and serving as the reservoir for the lamp's mineral spirits fuel.
The top of the cannister includes a flanged lip which is rolled downward to form a mouth of the type commonly referred to as a "One-inch aerosol opening". The lamp's top assembly includes, among other things, a wick and an automatic snuffer. The top assembly is permanently secured to the cannister's mouth. That securement is accomplished by means of a hollow metal crown. The hollow crown is circular in profile and forms another portion of the top assembly. The free end of the crown is in the form of a downturned, U-shaped peripheral flange which receives the flange of the cannister's mouth and which is bent therearound to permanently secure the crown onto the cannister to form a fluid-tight seal therebetween.
The crown also includes a projecting tubular central portion. The tubular portion terminates in an open end. A cup-shaped cap member is snapped in place over the open end of the tubular portion and includes a pair of openings through which portions of the wick pass. In this regard, the wick is folded in two with the folded mid-portion extending outside the cap between the openings and with the free ends of the wick extending through the openings into the tubular portion and into the cannister for immersion in the mineral spirits therein. The portion of the wick projecting out of the cap member serves as the flame site. The cap also includes a pressure release port which is disposed adjacent the openings through which the wick extends and is sufficiently large to permit the fuel to seep out as a result of the fuel expansion in the cannister when the cannister is fully filled, while small enough to preclude the fluid from gushing therethrough in the event that the cannister is inverted or otherwise knocked over.
An automatic snuffer is mounted on the tubular portion and is constructed in accordance with the teachings of my U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,905, whose disclosure is also incorporated by reference herein. The snuffer basically comprises a hollow member disposed on the tubular portion and loosely coupled thereto such that when the lamp is impacted suddenly or knocked over, a portion of the snuffer overlies the exposed wick portion to extinguish the flame.
While the lamp disclosed in my earlier patent is suitable for its intended purposes, the use of a metal cannister serving as the fuel reservoir leaves much to be desired from a standpoint of cost of manufacture. Moreover, the use of a metal cannister body renders the cannister susceptible to permanent physical deformation in the event that the cannister is impacted.
The use of plastics for various cannisters is gaining increasing acceptance in various applications, e.g., soft drink bottles, which had previously used metal or glass containers. One major advantage of plastic container is their inherently lower cost, particularly, those formed by blow molding techniques, coupled with the ability of plastic to withstand impact and recover from temporary deformation.
While the use of blow molded plastic containers is becoming more widespread, such containers have not been used for applications in which the container includes a mouth configured to receive a closure of the so called "one-inch aerosol opening" type. One major reason for the non-use of aerosol-type closures on plastic cannisters is the fact that the mouth of a blow molded container is not amenable to form a good fluid-tight seal with a metal closure.
The aerosol container industry has also been limited to the use of metal cannisters owing to the fact that such cannisters can be made fluid-tight with a metal closure.
The use of plastic containers for aerosol products is desirable for various reasons in addition to economy. For example, plastic containers do not present an explosion hazard if subjected to fire. In this regard, a plastic container having a pressurized product therein will melt and the contents escape without presenting an explosion hazard. In contradistinction, conventional aerosol cans, i.e., metal cannisters, exhibit the tendency to explode when subject to heat due to the pressure buildup within the cannister. Thus, the need presently exists within the aerosol industry for a plastic cannister having a metal closure which is secured to the cannister in a good fluid-tight seal.